21 May 2010

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Tony Panas, who, as half of the Johnson/Panas partnership was one of the great Factory Records designers. Tony passed away this week after a period of illness. He is survived by his wife Pam.

Cerysmatic reader John Rooney offers his personal thoughts on Tony:

"I was fortunate to know Tony for several years. During this time he always very modest about the fantastic design work he produced for Factory Records, 808 State, Geese, Electronic, etc as I was a fan of this work before I met him. The design community has lost rare talent, everyone who knew him have lost a friend."

As a curator who has worked in the north west for 15 years, the work Tony did for many of the exhibitions I developed remain some of my favourite pieces of design. The loss of Tony's talent will be felt by everybody; the loss of a beautiful person and a true friend will be felt even more acutely by those close to him. RIP Tony.

"Manchester, 1978. In the beginning there were four: Jez Kerr (bass), Martin Moscrop (guitar/trumpet), Peter Terrel (guitar/effects) and Simon Topping (vocals/trumpet). Four thin boys with a name borrowed from a Brian Eno record, the intense, drummerless quartet initially drew influence from Wire, Eno, the Velvets and Kraftwerk, and gained a manager in Anthony Wilson of Factory Records.

"May 1979 saw the release of their first ACR single, the dark All Night Party, although the sound and musicianship of the band would be transformed by the arrival of funky drummer Donald Johnson (DoJo) in August. Over the next few months the band gigged widely, often with Joy Division as part of Factory packages, and recorded demos with producer Martin Hannett as well as a Peel session. Their support slot with Talking Heads on their UK tour in December 1979 set David Byrne on a new course, and provided the compelling live half of their chic cassette package The Graveyard and the Ballroom. Post-punk, ACR now reflected the influence of Funkadelic, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, The Bar Kays and James Brown."